Torrington High School Small Learning Communities proposal takes another step forward

TORRINGTON >> Students at Torrington High School who are interested in pursuing a career in the medical field may soon have a better chance to study it before they graduate.

At Wednesday night's Board of Education Budget Subcommittee meeting, the implementation of a new Health and Technology program took one step forward when the committee unanimously voted for the new program to be reviewed by the full Board of Education.

The new Health and Technology course is part of the school district's Small Learning Communities, an effort to retain students and give them more career options after graduation. The course is designed to prepare students who are interested in pursuing a career in the medical field to take the Certified Nursing Assistant exam (CNA) at the end of the program. A total of 20 students at a time can take the new course, along with any health and technology electives, all in addition to their core courses such as math, science, history and English.

The School Improvement Subcommittee has been working out the details of the program since November, when Assistant Superintendent of Schools Susan Domanico first proposed the idea to the committee. At Wednesday night's budget meeting, Domanico presented the revised start-up costs with the most expensive option totaling $108,100 including supplies. She said $40,400 of that amount would be needed if the school hired two part-time qualified teachers.

Advertisement

"The CNA program will need to have certain instruction materials for the lab, including beds, scrubs and a stethoscope. To get anything started there's a price," Superintendent Cheryl Kloczko said.

However, the budget committee decided to go with a less expensive second option that involves contracting outside help, such as using resources from Northwest Connecticut Community College, which offers a similar program for CNAs. The projected cost for contracted services came to $79,100, with $25,400 of the cost for a certified instructor, who would teach the course at Torrington High School two periods a day.

"I personally think contracting out is a better way to go about it. It's (the program) is not affordable at all to do on our own," said Board of Education and Budget committee member Fiona Cappabianca.

Before the budget committee can officially finalize the numbers, the new course needs to be approved by the full Board of Education.

"The cost has to stay down," Cappabianca said. "It has to be what's in the best interest of 1,200 kids instead of 20 and the full board as to (decide) is it worth the cost?"

With the budget committee entering budget season, making decisions about the costs of new programs will not be a simple task.

"I can't begin to process a $300,000 (original estimated cost) program without knowing what budget season will bring and we know it will be a difficult budget season, and difficult choices to make," Cappabianca said. "But, we can't afford to keep our programs stagnant and continue loosing kids. We need to look for ways to do it that are affordable."